GURDWARA PUNJA SAHIB, (Hassan Abdal)
Oct 20 (APP): Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Thursday
assured the quake-affected Sikh and Hindu families of Batgram that the
government was helping all victims with utmost care and concern without
any discrmination. Addressing some 276 members of the Sikh and Hindu families
who lost their homes in the devastating earthquake on October 8, he said
the President and the Prime minister were with them in their hour of trial.
Sheikh Rashid said their children would be enrolled in local schools and
they were free to stay in the area as long as they wanted. Some 35 families
of Sikhs and Hindus have suffered from the earthquake in Batgram and Shamlai.
They were evacuated from their collapsed
homes and at present are housed at Gurdwara Punja Sahib where they are
provided free meals and accommodation. Some six people were killed and
the rescue teams pulled out 31 wounded from the debris of their houses.
Majority of those staying at the Punja Sahib include children and women.
Sheikh Rashid praised the efforts of Evacuee Property Board for helping
the affected families and providing them with food, medicines, boarding
and lodging. "The government on its part will continue to help you
as long as your houses and infrastructure in the area is not fully restored,"
the minister said.
He said the Evacuee Property Board in collaboration with Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Committee has despatched 16 trucks of relief goods to Batgram. A 10-member team of doctors and paramedics, sponsored by the international organisation of Sikhs, is working in Batgram and Mansehra, he added. In Batgram, he added, a village of 15,000 tents would be established and 20,000 blankets distributed among the quake stricken people. He said the government is providing compensation of Rs 100,000 for each dead and Rs 50,000 to the injured.